Country-of-Origin Labeling for Foods

Country-of-Origin Labeling for Foods
Geoffrey S. Becker

The 2002 farm bill (P.L. 107-171) as modified by the consolidated FY2004 appropriation (P.L. 108-199) requires many retailers to provide country-of-origin labeling (COOL) on fresh fruits and vegetables, red meats, and peanuts starting on September 30, 2006, and on seafood starting on September 30, 2004. The House Agriculture Committee has approved a bill (H.R. 4576) to make COOL voluntary. Some Members continue to support mandatory labeling, particularly in light of separate discoveries of bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE or "mad cow" disease) in two North American cows. Others counter that COOL is a marketing and not an animal or human health matter, unrelated to the BSE issue.

Background

In the 107th Congress, the House-passed farm bill (H.R. 2646) had included COOL for fresh produce only. The Senate-passed version extended it also to meats, peanuts, and both farmed and wild fish, and conferees in 2002 essentially accepted the Senate language.
USDA's Agricultural Marketing Service (AMS) in November 2002 published guidelines for the voluntary phase of COOL. In late October 2003, AMS proposed rules for the mandatory phase that had been scheduled to take effect in 2004.
Proponents have argued that COOL will help U.S. farmers and ranchers because consumers, if offered a clearer choice, would choose domestic over foreign farm products. They argue that implementation costs have been grossly overestimated by USDA and other COOL opponents. Supporters maintain that consumers have a right to know where their food is from, particularly in light of recent animal health and food safety concerns such as outbreaks of bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE, or "mad cow disease") in some other countries -- many of which, they add, have their own COOL requirements.
Critics counter that COOL is a thinly-disguised trade barrier intended to increase the costs of imports, and that it undermines U.S. efforts to reform world agricultural trade. Critics point to the AMS analysis accompanying the proposed rule, which indicates that total first-year implementation costs for all affected industries could range anywhere from $582 million to $3.9 billion. At the same time, AMS found "little evidence that consumers are willing to pay a price premium" for COOL, they add. Opponents also maintain that mandatory COOL does not increase food safety and public health (nor does it protect animal health).

In Congress

The House Agriculture Committee approved on July 21, 2004, a bill (H.R. 4576) that would replace mandatory COOL with a requirement that USDA offer separate, voluntary labeling programs for red meats (ground and muscle cuts of beef, lamb, pork), for produce, and for seafood. Amendments during markup to retain but modify mandatory COOL were not successful. Floor action has not been scheduled.
Mandatory COOL opponents already had succeeded earlier in gaining a two-year delay in implementing the program. Their effort began when the House Appropriations Committee, in June 2003, reported the FY2004 USDA appropriation (H.R. 2673; H.Rept. 108-193) with language prohibiting the use of FY2004 funds for implementing mandatory COOL for meats only. In the Senate, the committee-reported appropriation (S. 1427; S.Rept. 108-107) lacked the spending ban; during floor action on this measure in November 2003, the Senate approved a resolution insisting that their conferees not agree to the House position on COOL.
Conferees on the omnibus bill (H.R. 2673) decided (in lieu of the spending ban) to delay for two years (until September 30, 2006) the mandatory implementation date for all covered commodities except farmed fish and wild fish. The conference report (H.Rept. 108-401) was approved by both the House and Senate, and was signed into law (P.L. 108-199) on January 23, 2004.
Separate bills (H.R. 3732, H.R. 3993, S. 2451) would reinstate the original deadline of September 30, 2004, for mandatory COOL. Other bills to amend, but not abolish, COOL include H.R. 2270 and H.R. 3083.
Hearings.
Senate Agriculture Committee.

Country of Origin Labeling (Joplin, Missouri, field hearing by the Subcommittee on Marketing, Inspection, and Product Promotion). April 22, 2003.

House Agriculture Committee.

Mandatory Country of Origin Labeling. June 26, 2003.

(Livestock and Horticulture Subcommittee) Mandatory Country of Origin Labeling, Part II. October 1, 2003.

CRS Products

CRS Report 97-508. Country-of-Origin Labeling for Foods.
CRS Report RL32012. Animal Identification and Meat Traceability.
CRS Issue Brief IB10127. Mad Cow Disease: Agricultural Issues for Congress.

CRS Contact: Geoffrey S. Becker (7-7287)

Page last updated August 3, 2004.

Return to CRS Briefing Books. | Return to CRS Agriculture Policy Briefing Book.